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Packing stadium sized rock anthems with an incredibly striking emotional punch, and graced with one of the most staggeringly unique vocal talents to have graced the UK Rock scene in an awfully long time, Cambridge\u2019s Lonely The Brave<\/strong><\/a> have become one of the single most talked about new bands to emerge in recent years.<\/p>\n With their debut album \u2018The Day\u2019s War<\/a>\u2019<\/em> finally released this week, Already Heard<\/strong> caught up with lead guitarist Mark Trotter and Bassist Andrew Bushen shortly after the band\u2019s stellar set on the Radio One\/NME Stage at last weekend\u2019s Leeds Festival<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Mark: We were really lucky. We were saying earlier, Sunday lunchtime we\u2019d probably still be in bed ourselves. We were just grateful that people got up to see our little band from Cambridge. It\u2019s pretty amazing.<\/em><\/p>\n Andrew: I was absolutely blown away by the response; it was a fantastic crowd. I\u2019m glad everyone was still feeling up to having a turn out on Sunday morning.<\/em><\/p>\n Mark: It\u2019s been bonkers. That\u2019s the only way to describe it. We\u2019ve been pretty much everywhere that would have us. That\u2019s the honest way to put it.<\/em><\/p>\n Andrew: It\u2019s been a busy year all round but the summer has been crazy. We\u2019ve been to lots of places in Europe and have done most of the UK festivals. We\u2019ve had an amazing time.<\/em><\/p>\n Andrew: I\u2019ve been to lots of Reading Festivals as it\u2019s near where I live. They are legendary events Reading and Leeds and it\u2019s always an absolute honour to play.<\/em><\/p>\n Mark: We\u2019d be here as punters even if we weren\u2019t playing, so being able to be here and be on the other side of the fence is pretty special. We feel very lucky.<\/em><\/p>\n Mark: This year has been mad, and we have to keep reminding ourselves that all of it has been off of the back of one EP. We were worried about doing this festival season because the album\u2019s not out. We thought with the delays that there would be nobody here, I mean why would there be people coming to watch us. Fortunately there have been.<\/em><\/p>\n Andrew: Originally the album was going to be out at the start of June and we would have had that to push and we would have something more out there. Like Mark said, on the back of just a few singles things have been amazing.<\/em><\/p>\n Mark: We just want it out, that\u2019s the only way to describe it. We\u2019ve had these songs written for a long time. To have it finally be just a week away is pretty amazing for us.<\/em><\/p>\n Andrew: It\u2019s been delayed by three months from the original release date in June, but that\u2019s flown by with all of the festivals and other stuff that we\u2019ve been doing. It hasn\u2019t been as bad as we thought it might be. With a week to go we are definitely buzzing now.<\/em><\/p>\n Mark: We feel lucky that everyone has stuck by us and we are so grateful. It could have been really bad. It was a really hard decision for us to put the record back. It was a decision that was given to us and we still feel it was the right one to have taken. We just want to say thank you to everyone that has been so supportive, without them these shows could have been horrible.<\/em><\/p>\n Andrew: We know how hard it is when you\u2019re waiting for something to come out. When it\u2019s your own record you get impatient to have it out there as that\u2019s how you present yourself to people.<\/em><\/p>\n Mark: Absolutely.<\/em><\/p>\n Andrew: It was worth the delay for the reasons that we were given. It\u2019s been good that we\u2019ve still had enough stuff out there to keep people interested.<\/em><\/p>\n Mark: I personally think there would have been less people at these shows if we had released the record early as we wouldn\u2019t have got to as many people as we have. The support we\u2019ve had from Radio One has been incredible. Without that perhaps this summer wouldn\u2019t have been the way it has been.<\/em><\/p>\n Mark: We\u2019ve all been in other bands, but this is the first band that have been in that have been doing things like this. It was a big, big decision. We\u2019ve been sitting on this record as people for a long time and we just want people to hear it.<\/em><\/p>\n Mark: About 18 months. These are songs that we wrote a long time ago. We\u2019ve been a band for four years or so and, well, some of these songs are knocking on a bit.<\/em><\/p>\n Andrew: It\u2019s a culmination of everything that we\u2019ve been working towards since we formed, but at the time we recorded it we didn\u2019t have a record deal. So at the time we didn\u2019t even know if it was going to get released at all by a record label. We might have had to do it ourselves. So the delays have all been part of the bigger picture.<\/em><\/p>\n Mark: We just play what we want to play anyway. That might sound funny, but there aren\u2019t that many of our songs that people know anyway. There are maybe two or three that people know. What has been amazing is that when we\u2019ve played the songs that haven\u2019t been released, there are people in the crowds that have seemed to know them. Which either means they\u2019ve been to loads of shows and liked them which is amazing, or they\u2019ve hunted them down on YouTube or wherever and learnt them. To us that\u2019s incredible. How lucky are we?<\/em><\/p>\n Andrew: Being able to play your older songs in a new place makes them seem fresh as well. You never get tired of playing a song in front of people who appreciate it.<\/em><\/p>\n Mark: Really it\u2019s a simple thing. Everyone has struggles, everyone. It doesn\u2019t matter who you are, you have things that you have to deal with every day. We\u2019re no different. The record is songs written about those situations that we\u2019ve been through as individuals and as a band. Those things are the day\u2019s war.<\/em><\/p>\n Andrew: It summed up a lot of the things that we were going through when we were writing the songs. It\u2019s that day to day thing of getting through and expressing yourself even if at the time nobody wants to listen. Being in a band can be hard work, and obviously it\u2019s paying off now so it\u2019s been worthwhile.<\/em><\/p>\n Mark: Great. We\u2019re blown away that people like our songs and can sing them back to us. It\u2019s an amazing feeling, especially with the new stuff. Things like the video for \u2018Back Roads\u2019 has caused a stir in some places and that is a special thing. We\u2019ve always said that we want people to experience the songs however they want to experience them. Some of my favourite songs, I don\u2019t know what they were originally about and I don\u2019t want to, I just know what they mean to me. If people can feel that way about our songs then we see it as job done really. We\u2019ve been getting some amazing messages literally from around the globe about how they feel about the songs.<\/em><\/p>\n Andrew: The responses on social networks have been incredible.<\/em><\/p>\n Mark: We are honoured that they mean that much to people.<\/em><\/p>\n Andrew: It\u2019s definitely mad, and it\u2019s definitely, definitely humbling. Where can you start with a band like Pearl Jam? We obviously grew up listening to them and I really don\u2019t know what to say about it.<\/em><\/p>\n Mark: I think if you think about melodic rock bands who really mean what they are doing and have an amazing singer, the band like that that you would immediately think of is Pearl Jam. We\u2019re all fans, we couldn\u2019t say that we\u2019re not, but it\u2019s not like we\u2019re deliberately trying to do the same sort of thing that they\u2019re doing.<\/em><\/p>\n Andrew: They\u2019ve had a twenty plus year career of doing everything their own way, and you have to give a lot of respect to someone who can do that regardless of what line of life its in.<\/em><\/p>\n Mark: It\u2019s that voice. If only you could write lyrics like that and have that voice. Dave writes lyrics that seem to mean things to a lot of people too by the looks of it and he has that kind of voice. I\u2019ve said it many times, but I remember when I first heard him sing a high note on one of our tracks \u2018The Blue, The Green\u2019, and he has been a mate of mine for a long time, but that exact moment is burned into my memory because at that time I said to myself all I want to do with the rest of my life is stand beside that man while he sings that note. Because he just ripped me clean in half. That\u2019s the sort of thing that Eddie Vedder probably means to a lot of people as well. So we\u2019ll definitely take that comparison as a good thing.<\/em><\/p>\n Andrew: It\u2019s a massive compliment. <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018The Day\u2019s War\u2019<\/em> by Lonely The Brave<\/strong> is out now on Hassle Records<\/strong>\/Columbia Records<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Lonely The Brave<\/strong> links: Website<\/a>|Facebook<\/a>|Twitter<\/a><\/p>\nAH: It seemed like the set went really well and drew a decent crowd for so early on the festival\u2019s final day. How are you feeling?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
AH: It\u2019s been a busy festival season for the band already, has it been the high point of what has already been a remarkable year for Lonely The Brave?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
AH: While you\u2019ve been playing all the other festivals, have Reading and Leeds been the big ones on the horizon that you were looking forward to?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
AH: Has it been hard to believe how quickly things have grown for Lonely The Brave over the last year or so?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
AH: It\u2019s finally getting close to the release of the album after all of the delays, are you relieved it\u2019s almost out?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
AH: Did you look at it as having the chance to build up momentum for the band through festival season before the record came out?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
AH: Is this the first time in your careers that you have experienced having delays before you could put out new music?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
AH: How long has it been since you actually recorded the album?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
AH: Have you limited the amount of the new songs you played live with the album not having been released?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
AH: Where did the title \u2018The Day\u2019s War\u2019<\/em> come from and what does it mean to you?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
AH: You\u2019ve previewed some of the songs from the album on YouTube, how has the response been?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
AH: On quite a few occasions you have already been compared to Pearl Jam. How mad or humbling is it to be compared to such a legendary band?<\/strong><\/h2>\n